Topic: Havoc's Barn Burner - IT RUNS!!!!

[HavocTurbo]

Ok so it isn't a SOHC. But it's all I have to work with at the moment and besides...

It was free and I'm ecstatic.

Here's what I started with. Found on the side of the road, fresh outta the barn, for FREE!!!!



Did a little double checking and it seems that everything is there. The PO states that it was put away with a full tank of gas and ran fine. No title though. I live in IL so it's really no biggie just long and boring.

So I figured I'd tear it apart where it counted.... the fuel system.

I don't have pics of it but the tank was the first to get off. He wasn't kidding full of gas. You could smell the turpentine a mile away and it reached out to slap you in the face when I opened the filler cap. After I managed to drain the tank without dying of asphyxiation I removed the petcock only to find it was plugged solid as well.

No pics of that either. But after soaking overnight in a parts washer with fresh solvent (yes I took it apart) I discovered that it wasn't just old tarnish and rust but JB Weld as well.... sweet.

Out comes the drill and some more JB Weld and we are back in business. Anyone know of a petcock rebuild kit for sale? I'd rather buy from a member.

So it was on to the carbs.

Tilted back the seat, off with the tank, off with the side covers, off with the air filters and this is what I had so far.
Sorry for the crappy phone pics. My digicam is on the fritz.



Upon closer inspection I noticed that the tool bag tube seemed unmolested. Could there be a whole kit in there?

Why yes, there is!!!



I haven't opened it up yet but I hope everything is in there. It felt heavy enough.

So off with the carbs and I pry open the bowls expecting to find nastiness the likes of Micheal Moore has never seen. Given what the tank and petcock looked like it seemed that I was in for the long haul.

WRONG!!!




I know it looks an odd color in there but everything is as clean as a whistle. Even the floats float!! It seemed to me as I took the carbs further apart that if I had put fresh rubber lines on the bike and added fresh gas from my work tank... it might have fired.

That's all the work for today, but I did hook up a test battery and it turned over just fine (enough to give me 150psi compression test ), all the indicator lights worked and while I was looking at the gauges....



9500 rpm redline and an indicated 125 top speed seems a little ambitious for a 450 doesn't it? I mean it IS a Honda after all so it probably CAN do it. But wow. My XS850 doesn't go that fast.

Also I noticed that the center stand and rear brake lever are inhibited by the aftermarket ONE PIECE exhaust. Don't let the little band in front of the megaphone fool you like it did me. Anyone heard of this company? It's news to me.

Custom Headers Inc. Logo looks like stylized K - I - (backwards "k") or |<  I  >|



Well... that's it for today. Anybody got any ideas as to where I should go with this? It's already got a name so..... No flames. Maybe.

[Beans]

Looks sweet.   What are the planes for it?

[zoo mob]

That bike looks sick. My first bike 5 years ago was a mint 69 CL450, barely rode it due to constantly fouling plugs. Wish I knew then what I know now about basic bike maintenance. Never topped mine out, but had it over 90 a few times, those things will go given the chance. Have fun with this one.

[HavocTurbo]

Looks sweet.   What are the planes for it?

Not sure yet. If you have any ideas I'm open to suggestions.

[Inkscars]

Stocker minus handlebars/mirrors/paint
Custom little things, gauges, hoses, wires, it'll look rad.
Neat little bike. 

[HavocTurbo]

See it's an almost complete stock bike minus the exhaust. A correct resto is tempting but that exit route looks sooooo cool. If only it didn't interfere with the center stand and brake pedal.

[dagersh]

Havoc,

What year is on the VIN Plate?  The earlier 450's had the seat mounted like that.  Nice bike!

Fix/Clean all that you can do yourself.  There has been a dynamite cafe seat on Ebay forever, it is black with crisp white piping.  The seller is asking too much for it.  If you want, throw on an exhaust by Benjie www.benjiescaferacer.com (he makes a really nice system for 450's) or get some stock headers and but on some Peashooters.  There is something so british about these bikes - Peashooters just seem to work!  Or, ditch the center centerstand and fiddle with the brake lever to make it work with the 2-1.  Could you post a closer pic of the brake set-up?

Gersh

[HavocTurbo]

I'll get a pic of that for you tonight.

6/71 - or so it says.

I was thinking of going the cafe route but I'm leaning towards bobber too. The pipes on it are so much nicer up close and in person. I'm hoping to hear them in next few days.

[kghost]

Very cool Havoc.

I have one......I'm not much for the shaking of the twins....

But they do Haul A$$.

Every bit as fast as a 400F

Thier not slow by any means and are a great around town bike. 

[HavocTurbo]

Very cool Havoc.

I have one......I'm not much for the shaking of the twins....

But they do Haul A$$.

Every bit as fast as a 400F

Thier not slow by any means and are a great around town bike. 

Thank you!  I'm waiting for 754 or crazypj or TT to chime in about the exhaust. I know a lot about older kawis and what was available but I have never heard of this company before nor have I seen the logo. All I know is it looks pretty sweet and the bike aint bad either.

[kghost]

Very cool Havoc.

I have one......I'm not much for the shaking of the twins....

But they do Haul A$$.

Every bit as fast as a 400F

Thier not slow by any means and are a great around town bike. 

Thank you!  I'm waiting for 754 or crazypj or TT to chime in about the exhaust. I know a lot about older kawis and what was available but I have never heard of this company before nor have I seen the logo. All I know is it looks pretty sweet and the bike aint bad either.

I don't deal with them much so I have no idea what they are.....

Went and looked at a junker one the other day .....no title but original exhaust...$150

Mines got the stock pipes and when I started it it shot the baffles out the ends...

[Ecosse]

hmmm. could go any way and i'd say go for it. if it's low numbers, and someone here confirms it may be worth a restoration, that would be worth consideration too.

check team hansen out. ohio cafe racers too.

btw: i know their $tuff i$ pricey. i just like tossing in some kindling.  




psst, go street tracker.

[moham]

This is maybe a longshot on the headers id but you might be able to reference the patent number online and come up with a manufacturer...

[CBJoe]

I still cant believe you got that for free as a barn find.  There must not be the proper barns here in Indiana, cuz i've found nothing but junkers 

Now that's a sweet looking machine... I vote this style build

[alltherightpills]

I've wanted to get a 450 ever since I saw this in the Inspiration Gallery:

[kghost]

Love that chrome tank.

[HavocTurbo]

If I'm not mistaken doesn't the 450 go well into the 60's for it's birth year?

Either way I made some progress and discovered some sadness. Again sorry for the crappy phone pics.

The exterior of the carbs was disgusting. Covered in tarnished gasoline goo and god knows what else had petrified on them, I put them in the solvent tank and let them sit all night/day. I took them completely apart so it made cleaning kinda fun (oh god what am I becoming) as they looked almost new.

I kept everything separate and cleaned as much as I could without ruining seals and plastic parts.



Took me about 5 minutes to remember how it went back together and then it was a piece of cake.

See how clean they turned out. I was amazed it worked so well. I've cleaned some crappy carbs but these were really covered in #$%*.




Ok so it's almost ready to fire up.



Carbs are done.
150lbs compression in each cylinder.
Good spark from both plugs.
Oil and filter still needs to be changed and then I'm ready to go.

When I got the carbs back on I was looking the bike over for loose wiring and discovered this.
Well #$%*. So much for it being a flawless barn find. Guess I'll have to scour ebay for a replacement. Either that or try to find my plastic welder or just glass it.



Nothing is loose but it still pisses me off. I got over excited too soon lol. 

As promised here's a few pics of the rear brake set-up and front caliper arrangement.
See how the rear pedal arm hits the pipe? The center stand hit in about the same spot on the other side.

This is maybe a longshot on the headers id but you might be able to reference the patent number online and come up with a manufacturer...

Sorry man there's no numbers on it other than what I took a picture of.

I still cant believe you got that for free as a barn find.  There must not be the proper barns here in Indiana, cuz i've found nothing but junkers 

God as my witness I haven't paid nor spent a dime so far on this bike specifically.

hmmm. could go any way and i'd say go for it. if it's low numbers, and someone here confirms it may be worth a restoration, that would be worth consideration too.
psst, go street tracker.

Would the vin help? I know nothing about this bike. And sadly I feel quite inferior as I have never actually seen one in person. But 15 years experience has served me well so far so what the hell right?

If it turns out that this is just a run of the mill bike I'll tracker it for sure Bill. Be prepared for carbon fiber and all kinds of useless speed parts. 


Oh wait... can't you get a dry clutch conversion? mouhahahahahaha 

[Ecosse]

I've wanted to get a 450 ever since I saw this in the Inspiration Gallery:

yeah, who ever posted that not only had impeccable taste and judgment, they are immensely humble to the point of not boasting about such noble qualities.

so far it sounds like you're ahead of the game havoc. even when you do have to dump money into it it doesn't look like a lost cause. i think these are really cool bikes and they seem to have their share of fans. don't they have torsion bar springs for valve actuation? cool stuff.

god, if you do this tracker style it might start giving me ideas!! btw: what's the thing with the flamed red tank... keeping a project from us? 

[HavocTurbo]

god, if you do this tracker style it might start giving me ideas!! btw: what's the thing with the flamed red tank... keeping a project from us? 

heh it's a 50cc weedwacker engined "chopper" that my little brother got for his 10th birthday. Looks pretty goofy but he likes it so much that he ran over a garden rake in someone's yard and punctured both tires and still rode it 6 blocks home!!

You still have that picture of the bike with the dry clutch? Or was that a 350?

[Ecosse]

You still have that picture of the bike with the dry clutch? Or was that a 350?

uh, refresh my memory. if you can describe it i'll see if i got it. it's rare that'll delete a picture... my computer is jammed with them. 

[HavocTurbo]

silver cafe lookin road racer. it was in a show or convention. gold anodized clutch basket.

[754]

Hey cool bike, I dont check out very much of the Project pages..

At first glance I thought the header was a Jardine.. maybe it was made by them, then they had a name change

Also there was Kooks headers back then, they made a Kazillion sets of crossover 4-2s for 75os, same type of end on them.. Try to save the header, get an ebay brakepedal & mod if need be..

Back to the 450s, the earliest mid 4, 0-60 time I recall was done by a CL 450 I think, they managed to click off a 4.3 or so

Anyway they can be pretty quick off the line.. Yours has the coolest sidecover emblems they ever made.. I had a rolling chassis , I think 1/70 a while back, they use the same square shoulder rotor, & caliper, and fork legs as sandcast & early KO .

Cool ride, have fun with it..

[HavocTurbo]

754 you are the man!

I googled Kooks but cannot seem to find a logo. My computer here at work is crappy and our Amish internet isn't very "normal" friendly.

[Ecosse]

can't seem to find it but i have a vague recollection of it. search continues...

[Sporkfly]

My friend's dad recently picked up a 450 at an auction.

Jealous of this bike, a twin is going to be my next bike, meaning I'll probably be tearing into the GT500 soon